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+ "body": "[{\"id\": \"a15d06f9-36b2-4029-afcf-92e7c73fd294\", \"type\": \"paragraph\", \"value\": \"<figure>\\r\\n<embed alt=\\\"threebares.jpg\\\" embedtype=\\\"image\\\" format=\\\"fullwidth\\\" id=\\\"837\\\"/>\\r\\n<figcaption>threebares.jpg</figcaption>\\r\\n</figure>\\r\\n<h2 id=\\\"the_story_of_the_three_bares\\\">The Story of the Three Bares</h2>\\r\\n<p><em>Taken from <a\\r\\nhref=\\\"http://publications.mcgill.ca/mcgillnews/2005/11/12/the-story-of-the-three-bares/\\\">McGill\\r\\nAlumni News</a> Fall 2005</em></p>\\r\\n<p>For decades, McGill students have trooped past it day after day or\\r\\nrelaxed with friends in the hollow where it stands, just west of the\\r\\nmain campus avenue. It is the most recognizable art object on McGill\\r\\ngrounds, and it has become nearly as iconic of the University as the\\r\\ncupola on the Arts Building or the Roddick Gates. Few of the students\\r\\nwho pass by, though, could tell you the story of the fountain everyone\\r\\nknows as the Three Bares. There is no historical marker, no nameplate\\r\\nacknowledging the benefactors \\u2013 just a marble statue in a small\\r\\noctagonal pool, brightening up the tree-lined dell that is overshadowed\\r\\nby the Redpath Museum.</p>\\r\\n<p>In the 75 years since the Bares first came to McGill, the statue has\\r\\nmeant many things to many people. For Sir Arthur Currie, McGill\\u2019s\\r\\nprincipal when the \\u201cGood Will Fountain\\u201d was presented as a gift in 1930,\\r\\nit was an annoyance and unanticipated expense in the middle of the Great\\r\\nDepression. For one prudish graduate of 1911 who wrote to the McGill\\r\\nDaily to \\u201cdeplore the erection of three naked male figures in a\\r\\nprominent position on the Campus,\\u201d the statue was \\u201ca menace to our\\r\\npure-thinking girls and boys\\u201d (although the letter was quite possibly a\\r\\nhoax). The statue\\u2019s creator, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, offered a\\r\\ncryptic description, claiming it was \\u201csymbolic of the nation\\u2019s strength\\r\\nimplanted in the fertility of the soil.\\u201d It has been the target of\\r\\npranks and the subject of paintings, and at each Convocation a steady\\r\\nstream of graduating students and their families pose for souvenir\\r\\nsnapshots in front of the once provocative young men. Few would think\\r\\nthe statue controversial today, but anyone who has attended McGill since\\r\\nthe 1930s can recall the Three Bares.</p>\\r\\n<h2 id=\\\"kitsch_or_culture\\\">Kitsch or Culture</h2>\\r\\n<p>\\u201cGreat Art they are not,\\u201d says Faith Wallis bluntly \\u2013 fond as she is\\r\\nof the Bares \\u2013 \\u201cand the fountain has never really worked properly.\\u201d\\r\\nWallis, BA\\u201971, MA\\u201974, MLS\\u201976, is a McGill professor of History and\\r\\nSocial Studies of Medicine, who researched the statue for McGill\\r\\nArchives in 1976. Its value may be questionable, \\u201cbut the tale of how\\r\\nWhitney and her celebrity buddies managed to con McGill into giving this\\r\\nrather dubious piece of kitsch a home is part of our ludic legend.\\u201d</p>\\r\\n<p>The fountain started as the brainchild of Ellen Ballon, DMus\\u201954. As a\\r\\nchild piano prodigy in the early 1900s, Ballon studied at the McGill\\r\\nConservatory with its celebrated instructor, Clara Lichtenstein (later\\r\\nin her career, Ballon was described by the virtuoso Artur Rubinstein as\\r\\n\\u201cthe greatest pianistic genius I have ever met\\u201d). She left the\\r\\nConservatory for further schooling in New York \\u2013 funded by the patronage\\r\\nof Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, BCL1864, LLD1898, and McGill\\r\\nprincipal Sir William Peterson \\u2013 and debuted with the New York Symphony\\r\\nat the age of 12. As an adult concert pianist, Ballon moved in prominent\\r\\nartistic and social circles and eventually turned part of her attention\\r\\nto philanthropy. Before the Good Will Fountain project, she had\\r\\nestablished a piano scholarship in her name at McGill\\u2019s Faculty of Music\\r\\nin 1928.</p>\\r\\n<p>One of Ballon\\u2019s important friends in New York was Gertrude Vanderbilt\\r\\nWhitney, a daughter of the Vanderbilt financial empire who had married\\r\\ninto another of America\\u2019s Gilded Age fortunes when she wed Harry Payne\\r\\nWhitney. In her 20s, at around the same time the younger Ballon was\\r\\namazing McGill audiences with her childhood aptitude for Beethoven,\\r\\nWhitney embraced the world of art. She began to study sculpture, first\\r\\nin New York, and then in Paris under the great French sculptor Auguste\\r\\nRodin. Working in her own studios in Greenwich Village and Paris,\\r\\nWhitney eventually had works on display in the U.S., Spain, France and\\r\\nSouth America. Her sculptures included war memorials, fountains \\u2013 her\\r\\nornate Fountain of El Dorado done for the World\\u2019s Fair in 1912 in San\\r\\nFrancisco would end up in Lima, Peru \\u2013 even a statue of Wild West legend\\r\\nBuffalo Bill Cody.</p>\\r\\n<p>Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney\\u2019s 18-foot granite memorial statue\\r\\ncommemorating the victims of the Titanic disaster before it was put on\\r\\npermanent public display in Washington. Photo courtesy Thomas Crane\\r\\nPublic Library,Quincy,MA</p>\\r\\n<p>Her Titanic Memorial commemorating the heroism of the men on the\\r\\ndoomed ship who had insisted on \\u201cwomen and children first\\u201d was unveiled\\r\\nby U.S. President Herbert Hoover in Washington, D.C., a few days before\\r\\nthe Three Bares would be presented at McGill (and the stance of the\\r\\nfigure in Whitney\\u2019s memorial, with its cruciform, outstretched arms,\\r\\nwill be familiar to fans of the 1997 blockbuster movie about the\\r\\ndisaster).</p>\\r\\n<p>In addition to her sculpture, Whitney became a philanthropist and\\r\\npatron of the arts, with an important, growing collection of\\r\\ncontemporary American works from artists she had sponsored. When she\\r\\noffered the collection \\u2013 and a new wing to house it \\u2013 to the\\r\\nMetropolitan Museum of Art in New York, she was rather shortsightedly\\r\\nturned down, and she went on to become the first woman to found a major\\r\\nart museum, opening the Whitney Museum of American Art. An Offer We\\r\\nCouldn\\u2019t Refuse</p>\\r\\n<p>It was around this time that Ellen Ballon was deciding that one of\\r\\nWhitney\\u2019s sculptures would make a wonderful gift to McGill, as a gesture\\r\\nof friendship between the United States and Canada. Ballon chose a\\r\\nten-foot, quasi-classical sculpture that featured three mournful-looking\\r\\nand naked young men holding on their shoulders an earthen bowl adorned\\r\\nwith leaves and ivy. She assembled a presentation committee of prominent\\r\\nAmericans that included politicians and university presidents, among\\r\\nothers, and wrote to Sir Arthur Currie that the fountain would be \\u201ca\\r\\nFriendship gift to McGill University by American Admirers of Canada and\\r\\nMrs. Harry Payne Whitney, the distinguished Sculptress.\\u201d Faith Wallis\\r\\nnoted for Archives: \\u201cSince Mrs. Whitney offered to pay for the shipping\\r\\nand installation of the fountain, and since it was presented by such a\\r\\ncommittee of notables, it was a gift which the University could see no\\r\\nreason to refuse.\\u201d</p>\\r\\n<p>Here the trouble started for Sir Arthur. With an elaborate ceremonial\\r\\npresentation of the statue scheduled for November 1, 1930, Whitney\\u2019s\\r\\nhusband, Harry, died suddenly and the proceedings were abruptly\\r\\ncancelled. They were rescheduled for May 29, 1931, the Spring\\r\\nConvocation, but this time Mrs. Whitney herself became ill and had to\\r\\nsend her daughter to represent her. Nonetheless, Ellen Ballon was in\\r\\nenthusiastic attendance, as were many eminent guests on both sides.</p>\\r\\n<p>Presenting the statue for the Americans was educator and New York\\r\\nTimes editor John Finley. Accepting was the Governor General of Canada,\\r\\nthe Earl of Bessborough, in his official capacity as McGill Visitor. The\\r\\nDepression was on, but all ignored a student waving a placard that read,\\r\\n\\u201cThis is the most distinguished parade of the unemployed so far this\\r\\nyear.\\u201d Amid appropriate pomp, swathed in the Union Jack and the Stars\\r\\nand Stripes, the statue was finally unveiled and respective anthems\\r\\nsounded.</p>\\r\\n<p>McGill had its Three Bares. But for Sir Arthur, two more years of\\r\\nheadaches would ensue until his own death in 1933. Whitney had not yet\\r\\ncome through with the money for completing the installation. The\\r\\nUniversity had been paying architect Percy Nobbs to build an appropriate\\r\\npool for the statue, and it had been absorbing other related costs as\\r\\nwell: $2,050 in all, a large sum when they were cutting salaries on\\r\\ncampus in extraordinarily tight financial times. Canadian Customs\\r\\nunhelpfully valued the artwork at $50,000, which McGill hotly disputed\\r\\nin an attempt to reduce import duties. Meanwhile, the statue in its\\r\\nunfinished state was boxed up the year after its unveiling.</p>\\r\\n<h2 id=\\\"the_fountain_finally\\\">The Fountain \\u2013 Finally</h2>\\r\\n<p>Growing increasingly impatient, Currie threatened to banish the thing\\r\\nto some less prominent corner of the campus if it was not completed\\r\\nsoon: \\u201cI cannot leave it as it is,\\u201d he wrote in frustration to Ellen\\r\\nBallon. Finally, in 1933, the money arrived, pipe connections were\\r\\nfitted, and the pool was finished. The Montreal Herald announced,\\r\\n\\u201cMcGill\\u2019s famous fountain \\u2013 which has thus far been that in name only \\u2013\\r\\nwill become a fountain in fact.\\u201d On July 4, American Independence Day,\\r\\nwater flowed for the first time from the Good Will Fountain.</p>\\r\\n<p>It has gone by other names: the Friendship Fountain, the Whitney\\r\\nFountain, as well as the Three Graces, owing possibly, says Faith\\r\\nWallis, to the analytical musings of the then Governor General\\u2019s\\r\\nsecretary, who may have forgotten the Graces are usually three young\\r\\ngoddesses (though often portrayed in a similar formation to the Three\\r\\nBares).</p>\\r\\n<p>Whatever its muddled symbolic meaning, the statue soon suffered from\\r\\nvery clear and unsightly rust stains: cast iron piping had been used for\\r\\nits waterworks. Students were quick to target the fountain as well.\\r\\nThere was no telling when one might walk by to see the Three Bares\\r\\nsporting winter coats or lacy blue underwear that had been painted onto\\r\\ntheir marble rumps, or bearing the names of some unfortunate math\\r\\nprofessors. Swimsuits were a popular theme. No doubt in the interests of\\r\\naesthetic symmetry, some male students proposed a statue of three naked\\r\\nladies for the opposite side of the avenue.</p>\\r\\n<p>Others expressed acid criticism. One wrote to the Daily to ridicule\\r\\nthis \\u201cmid-Victorian mantelpiece.\\u201d In the same pages, another wag\\r\\nsuggested that \\u201ca replica could be used as a fruit bowl.\\u201d Someone\\r\\nslightly more high-minded complained about honouring American artists at\\r\\nthe expense of Canada\\u2019s own: \\u201cFrance honours Tait McKenzie with his\\r\\nbronze group of runners\\u2026 [yet] no such group ornaments his University!\\u201d\\r\\n(McKenzie, MDCM1892, would eventually be honoured \\u2013 his statue, The\\r\\nFalcon, can be found on the McLennan Library terrace.)</p>\\r\\n<h2 id=\\\"bares_care\\\">Bares Care</h2>\\r\\n<p>In 1937, to protect it from harsh Montreal winters, a wooden hutch\\r\\nwas built to encase the fountain, and today it has become a sure sign of\\r\\nspring to see the hutch being removed and the statue revealed once\\r\\nagain. General maintenance is ongoing, says Eric Champagne, a\\r\\nhorticultural supervisor with McGill Facilities Management and\\r\\nDevelopment whose responsibilities include the upkeep of the Bares.</p>\\r\\n<p>Students returning to McGill in the autumn regularly use the area\\r\\nsurrounding the Three Bares for a <strong>temporary outdoor\\r\\npub</strong>.</p>\\r\\n<p>\\u201cThe bottom of the pool was repainted this year,\\u201d says Champagne.\\r\\n\\u201cThe old paint had peeled and it was impossible to clean, because algae\\r\\nand dirt get encrusted in the cement. We also have a problem with the\\r\\nsurrounding black walnut trees: the nuts fall into the pool and stain\\r\\nthe bottom.\\u201d</p>\\r\\n<p>Maintenance on the actual statue is left to specialists. \\u201cWe don\\u2019t\\r\\ntouch the Three Bares themselves. There\\u2019s a company that uses\\r\\nhigh-pressure water to clean them off. In the past, parts have been\\r\\ncracked and glued back \\u2013 it\\u2019s an old statue and we don\\u2019t want to damage\\r\\nit.\\u201d</p>\\r\\n<p>Over the years, the fountain has hosted town and gown receptions,\\r\\nstudent protests, visiting scholarly groups and tykes from nearby\\r\\ndaycare centres. \\u201cIt was the scene of outdoor concerts in the \\u201960s where\\r\\nthe blue smoke of the counterculture was so thick you could get high\\r\\njust walking by the area!\\u201d recounts Emeritus Professor of Architecture\\r\\nDerek Drummond, BArch\\u201962. These days, come September, the Bares watch\\r\\nover the hubbub of the return to classes and are at the centre of the\\r\\nstudent-run Open Air Pub that features bands, food and plenty of beer to\\r\\nwelcome students during Frosh Week. It\\u2019s an inviting space for\\r\\neveryone.</p>\\r\\n<p>\\u201cMore important than the sculpture is the shape of the space,\\u201d says\\r\\nDrummond, \\u201cgiving it a sense of enclosure and the feeling of an outdoor\\r\\nroom. One could argue that the most important role of the sculpture has\\r\\nbeen to make the space difficult for sports events. The two lower quads\\r\\nhost all sorts of games, but the Three Bares quad is used almost\\r\\nexclusively for social events.\\u201d</p>\\r\\n<p>The protective hutch that safeguards the Three Bares during the\\r\\nwinter months is removed each spring. Photo courtesy Facilities\\r\\nManagement and Development</p>\\r\\n<p>The fountain has seen the campus change bit by bit; the great elm\\r\\ntrees that once lined its main avenue have died, generations of students\\r\\nhave moved on with their lives. It has been joined farther down the\\r\\navenue by another high-profile statue: of the University\\u2019s founder,\\r\\nJames McGill. And despite its early controversies, this gift from\\r\\nMcGill\\u2019s American friends has created a place on campus that is\\r\\nimprinted fondly on the memory of many a graduate.</p>\\r\\n<p>\\u201cI think the story of the Three Bares is a wonderfully typical McGill\\r\\njoke,\\u201d says Faith Wallis, \\u201cand as such, I have deep and abiding\\r\\naffection for them.\\u201d</p>\\r\\n<h2 id=\\\"update_2016\\\">Update 2016</h2>\\r\\n<p>As of May 2016, the fountain is non-functional and McGill grounds has\\r\\nsaid that fixing the fountain will cost too much money and cause too\\r\\nmuch destruction to the park for them to justify repairing it. We have,\\r\\nhowever, had issues with people climbing on the fountain now that the\\r\\nwater is not flowing. To mitigate this, in 2016, we filled the fountain\\r\\nbase with water, but we still found that people climbed on the\\r\\nstructure. In the future, we would like to fill the base with dirt and\\r\\ncreate a garden, although concrete plans to do so have not been put in\\r\\nplace.</p>\\r\\n\"}]",

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